The access devices and systems of the invention will find use in distal regions and in arteries other than distal including the right and left internal mammary arteries (RIMA, LIMA), coronary arteries, and bypass grafts. Thus, the devices and systems of the invention may be used to hyper-perfuse any vessel (natural, man made or of animal origin) in the body.
There is a pressing need for a device that is capable of supplementing blood perfusion in a patient's circulatory system. It is common in patients suffering from Congestive Heart Failure (“CHF”), diabetes, gangrene, erectile dysfunction, atheroma or obstructive vessel disease to also suffer from poor circulation. Poor circulation often leads to a patient suffering from ischaemia or chronic oxygen debt in their circulatory system. This ischaemia or oxygen debt that can lead to exercise related claudication or rest pain. These diseases may also lead to various other complications that may require radical surgery to correct, such as amputation of limbs.
Traditionally, poor circulation in limbs has been treated by a wide range of devices and procedures, which were aimed at promoting blood flow through a limb and by doing so, induce revascularisation of the limb.
In the past, hyperbaric chambers have been used to increase oxygen tension within the limbs. This increases oxygen tension delivered to distal regions of the patient's circulatory system and leads to a reduction of oxygen debt in these regions. Hyperbaric chambers are often expensive, inefficient, reduce the patient's quality of life and are suitable only for short term use.
It is an object of the present invention to address or ameliorate one or more of the abovementioned disadvantages and to address the problem of supplementing blood perfusion in a patient's circulatory system.